Many players assume that there isn't any skill involved in playing Spin & Go's. They are wrong – there is a lot of skill involved in winning a Spin & Go. If you think they are more about luck, and blame it on bad luck when you lose, then it's likely that you are just making excuses for the fact that somebody else is taking your money.

The first thing to understand is the psychological factor that the variable prize pool creates. In a Spin & Go the spinner will create a randomly assigned prize pool that can be anything up to 10,000 times your buy-in! Opponents will be frustrated if they spin on a low prize and could play too anxiously if the spinner lands on a high prize. While you may not have considered this before, the size of the prize pool after the spin will directly affect the strategy of that Spin & Go game.

I would say the size of the prize pool is the main factor in the game. Before you can think about Spin & Go strategy you have to see what the spinner lands on first. When the spinner lands on low prizes your opponents tend to get frustrated and play very loose and irresponsible. They will shove with hands that they should fold and decide to gamble by calling shoves that hands that are unlikely to be ahead.

When the spinner lands on high prizes, it's the opposite. Your opponents get too anxious and close their ranges too much. What this means is that they will play very tight, not calling when they should and not shoving when it would be profitable to do so. You can exploit both of these scenarios. The only real difference between a Spin & Go and a Hyper-Tubo Sit & Go is the effect of the variable prize pool. It's tough to come up with an overall strategy when you never know how much you are playing for!

When the Spin & Go first begins it's crucial that you try to get an early read on your opponent's style. If the villain is inexperienced, he's more likely to play loose and weak hands if the prize pool is low, and he will play tighter and with stronger hands if the prize pool is high. In the first case, you can capitalise by tightening up a little yourself and playing a stronger range of hands. In the latter case, you can take advantage of your opponent's timidity by continually stealing blinds and looking to make small bluffs to build your stack.

There's one final type of opponent to consider – and that's the player who won't change his playing style regardless of the size of the prize pool. These are usually regular Spin & Go players and you should not adjust strategies due to the spinner versus these guys.

Click here to read Part 2 of Caio Pessagno's guide to beating Spin & Go's. And for more winning poker strategy tips, create your FREE PokerStars account now and join our school. If you're already a school member, why not make a deposit and try this strategy at the tables?

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